Whatsapp Blackout Disrupts Trading In Stocks, Crypto And Oil, Almost Worldwide

Wahtsapp is dead resulting in world trade is also problematic. (photo: unsplash doc)

JAKARTA – The nearly six-hour WhatsApp outage on Monday, October 4 hit trading in assets from cryptocurrencies to Russian oil, market participants said. But the rapid shift to alternative platforms like Telegram has limited the annoyance to becoming more severe.

Although many financial institutions banned employees from using messaging services such as WhatsApp and other Facebook platforms that went out on Monday, their convenience has made Facebook Inc. popular among traders who communicate with clients in the over-the-counter (OTC) market.

Facebook Inc itself blamed "wrong configuration changes" in the outage that hit WhatsApp, as well as Instagram and Messenger. It is also the largest outage ever tracked by web monitoring group Downdetector.

Among those affected is BCB Group, a London-based crypto firm that has been offering OTC trading as well as other services. The Facebook service went dark around noon Eastern time (1600 GMT), becoming the main window for BCB traders.

"The WhatsApp outage hit us at our busiest trading period where we faced our US counterparts," said Chief Executive Oliver von-Landsberg Sadie. "Daily volume decreased by 15% compared to the daily average, which we internally attributed to connectivity issues. Telegram and Slack based trading on par with daily averages."

"The use of WhatsApp among financial traders tracked by communications surveillance firm VoxSmart has grown rapidly as banks accept that clients want to use the platform, even if bosses prefer their staff to use official messaging channels," VoxSmart CEO Oliver Blower said in a statement, cited from Reuters.

“This app has become the “default messaging service” in many markets, especially in continental Europe and Asia-Pacific,” Blower added.

Of the approximately 2.000 interdealer users who sent 10.000 messages a day on the energy market in 2016, VoxSmart today tracks between three and five million messages each week across asset classes, including between banks and purchase-side clients.

"What's interesting is the volume and content of the message. Not only, what time are you heading to 'The Dog and Duck', this, how much do you cost for 5 years?," Blower said, using slang for an English pub.

However, the prevalence of messenger services outside of WhatsApp, means the outage remains an annoyance but not a major annoyance.

In India, for example, the chat market on WhatsApp has moved to Telegram where there are fewer limits on the size of group chats. The blackout also came after markets closed across much of Asia, to limit any possible impact.

In the Middle East, "OTC crypto trading is dominated on Telegram or WhatsApp, where you ask your OTC broker's bids and offers, and then you press them and they will confirm the transaction," said Zachary Cefaratti, CEO of Dubai investment platform. Dalma Capital added that Telegram is now becoming more widely used.

OTC traders in the oil market also took a hit, although once again that hit could be softened by the use of other platforms.

In Russia, oil traders say WhatsApp is typically used to communicate order details across Europe and Asia. Monday's blackout was an "unpleasant surprise", said a trader based in Europe.

"That's not good. Everyone uses it. But we use alternative messengers too, so switch," said another.